real, as the thing “well in hand.’’ bilities’’. ernment”, EDITORIAL Flood danger looms any communities from Hope down to the delta of the M ‘“‘Mighty Fraser” are daily anxiously scanning its rising waters, with the memory of past devastating floods in mind, And they have good reason to do so, The March Snow Survey issued by the provincial govern- ment, indicates one of the highest snowfalls recorded. Spokes- men for the same government however, continue to voice their annual ‘‘assurancés’’ that the Fraser dyking is adequate to meet flood conditions and that “no danger” is anticipated. The Socred ‘‘oracle’’ has spoken — but the danger is still very An eminent professor, G. E. Kuiper, of the University of Manitoba, an expert on dyking and flood control, speaking at the recent conference of the Institute of Natural Resources in Victoria, made two important observations; that much of the Fraser dyking system as he had seen was as “ancient” Roman dyking of 2,000-years ago, and that any dyking built to conform to the ‘‘highest” flood levels on record, should never be considered as sufficient to meet the probabili- ties of an even higher level in future. Coming from Holland, where adequate and scientific flood control is one major guarantee of survivial, Prof. E. Kuiper’s views on dyking carry much more weight that the easy off- the-cuff- Scored “assurance” that the dykes will “hold” and that Premier Bennett and his “no flood” forecasters have every- On the government’s own snowfall survey, given acouple of weeks warm of mild weather in late April with B.C.’s famed **scattered showers’’ added, and the uncontrolled runoff from the mountain snowsheds can transform the Fraser into a ram- paging destroying river, sweeping all in its path before it — including Socred ‘‘assurances.” Now is the time— before anything like that happens, to begin a check and double-check of all dyking and other essentials of flood control, with the Bennett government providing every facility and cost required for safeguarding against such a contingency. To begin working in the closest co-operation with every municipality threatened by, orinthe path of flood danger, rather than arguing later on who failed in their ‘‘responsi- During the 1948 devastating Fraser River flood and the appalling loss of property and livestock it inflicted upon hun- drds of Fraser Valley residents, the Pacific Tribune stated editorially: “The government failed throughout the years to establish proper river control, It abetted wanton denuding of the forests which are Nature’s runoff control. It refused to take emergency measures until disaster was already wide- spread, All this is consistent with the government’s whole record, and stems from its very nature as a big business gov- This was directed at the Johnson-Anscomb tory-liberal Coalition government. It applies with greater force to the Bennett Socred government 19-years later. B.C. COMMUNISTS SAY: ‘Need new forest prob Support for the calling of a public enquiry into the govern- ments’ forest policy, as recom- mended for 1967 by the Sloan Royal Commission at conclusion of its hearings ten years ago, was urged by Nigel Morgan onthe Communist Party’s radio com- mentary, “The Legislature & You” last Sunday night, “Half a dozen big lumber giants (all of which but one, are now U.S.-owned) are exploiting our rich forest resources on the basis of exporting almost the entire production in raw or semi- raw form,” Morgan charged. “That may be the way to maxi- mum private profit for Mac- Millans, Bloedels, Taylors and Zellerbachs, but it certainly is not the way for maximum benefit for the B.C, economy, or for Mr, and Mrs. Average British Colum- bian,” he stated, “Our rich forest resources will never bring us maximum benefit so long as it’s left to a handful of private tycoons to exploit for a fast buck”. Answering the question, “What would the Communist Party do about it?”, the speaker declared: **The foundation of a sound forest policy for B.C. requires the re- turn of all forest lands, including both tree farm licenses and crown grants to government ownership, “Secondly, the Communist Party would move to establish a Crown Logging Corporation for which henceforth private logging operators would log on the basis of competitive bidding with the Corporation being the sole pur- chaser of logs, All mill owners ° would thus be required to obtain — their logs from the Crown Cor- poration — also on the basis of competitive bidding. This would bring this important basic resource back under strict government control and owner- ship. It would also divert the present fantasically high profits (above a-reasonable allocation for the logging operation) to the public treasury, to be used to provide the health, educational and other essential services while at the same time lightening the tax load on our homes,” Morgan stated, “It has been estimated that revenues available from this one source are considerably in excess of- the total provincial budget. “Thirdly, the Communist Party would expropriate all U.S. and foreign-owned monopolies in lumber and pulp at their true book value,” he said, “establishing a Feinberg rally Tuesday Rabbi Abraham A, Feinberg, of Toronto, who recently returned from North Vietnam, will report on his talks with Ho Chi Minh and tell of his experiences in Hanoi when he addresses a public meeting in Vancouver on Tuesday, March 28 at 8 p,m. The meeting will be held in the Eric Hamber Secondary School, which is located at 5025 Willow Street, near the corner of 33rd and Oak, The meeting will be chaired by Paddy Neal, secretary of the Vancouver Labor Council, Ray Haynes, secretary of the B,C. Fed- eration of Labor, Father James Roberts and Mrs, Theresa Galloway of the Local Council of Women, will also take part in the program, There will be an admission of $1,00 for adults and 50 cents for students, End the War in Vietnam, The meeting is sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee to second Crown Corporati undertake such secondary ™ facturing and job opportun as the companies failed 0 velop. ‘And we would, of cours® vide for democratic publi¢® trol over such crown corr tions through labor, const and other people’s repres@ tives, ; “This in essense is the which the Communist Party advance and elaborate whe? next public hearing is © Morgan concluded, “Few sions the Legislature could™ that would bring such enor and lasting benefits to the P® of this province,” Warns Agaitt “Immediate preventatiY sures, the calling in of ME technical experts, strem of crucial dykes, and other gency steps should be takel to ensure that Fraser ‘ residents and farms are? undated by another disat flood this spring,” the CO” nist Party warned this q “Predictions of govelm asel agencies.are that the Fr Columbia flows this sprin’ be “above” or “well above ‘of age”, The March survey 9" depths registers the nighest : surement on record, am@ | ¢ temperature patterns will the some bearing on the spe® ct! runoff, now is the time to ; it is not to be too late. ‘Premier Bennett has ee port, The government a advance warning. Should disaster come (as it did the blame will rest square their shoulders”, B.C sa munist leader Nigel Morea? at in urging that “steps be tae prod them to act without delay.”’ Tom Mc EWEN -§f “talk” about housing could build houses, Cana- dians would be the best housed people in the world. The chronic crisis in housing, already esti- mated to be fifty years or more behind the times and the need, is assuredly bad enough without having more housing problems thrown in — many of which the public are largely unaware of, Here’s one; we got the details from a janitor in one of Vancou- ver’s middle-range apartments blocks in the East End, This middle-range rental level is something of a study in itself, If you can manage a 1-bedroom (unfurnished) at $92. per month, or a bachelor’s suite (unfurn.) at $90 per, or a 2-bedroom (un- fur.) melange at $175, per, then you’re in the middle-range cate- gory. ; This particular janitor who had the interviewing of prospective cave dwellers along with all his other multiple duties, managed to get himself summarily fired from his job because he just couldn’t BeS8TSGl mok